One-Quarter of Adults in the U.S. Experience Burdensome Health Costs

TUESDAY, Dec. 23, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- Overall, 17.4 percent of adults experienced cost burdens and 9.9 percent experienced catastrophic cost burdens (CCBs) over a four-year period, according to a study published online Dec. 22 in JAMA Internal Medicine.Adam Gaffney, M.D., M.P.H., from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues conducted a cohort study to assess burdensome out-of-pocket (OOP) health care costs and care foregone due to cost over a four-year period. Data were analyzed for 12,645 respondents (74.6 percent aged 18 years or older) to the four-year longitudinal Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys. Cost burden was defined as individual annual OOP medical spending greater than 10 percent of family income; CCB was defined as OOP spending greater than 40 percent of postsubsistence income.The researchers found that 6.5 percent of adults experienced cost burdens and 3.5 percent had CCBs during year one; 17.4 and 9.9 percent, respectively, experienced these outcomes at least once over four years. Overall, 24.7 and 11.2 percent of U.S. individuals lived in families experiencing cost burdens over four years and CCBs, respectively. Among adults, 26.7 percent experienced foregone care due to cost or cost burden over four years. Associations with higher cost burden were seen for lower income, having no insurance, hospitalizations, and chronic disease. In one to four years before death, 53.2 percent of decedents experienced cost burdens."High medical costs don't just devastate finances, they force people to skip care -- which often further worsens their health," Gaffney said in a statement. "It's time America joined other nations and implemented national health insurance."Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)Editorial (subscription or payment may be required).Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

One-Quarter of Adults in the U.S. Experience Burdensome Health Costs

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